Phantoms in the Forest
by Colonel Nova
Summary: Kestrel Blackburn, a Hunter and survivor of a mission gone horrifically wrong in the Snowy Forests, recounts his traumatizing ordeal to the Head Professor of Beacon Academy. Little does the damaged Hunter know that there is more at work then he realises. And who is the shadowy figure in the forest causing all of this misery to this unsuspecting Hunter? Oneshot, interview based.


**Interviewer:** Professor Ozpin, Head Professor of Beacon Academy  
**Interviewed:** Kestrel Blackburn, Former leader of the now inactive Team KING  
**Recruitment Incident:** #R-4  
**Begin Log**  
[18:44 Hours Local Time, Interrogation Room 12]

**Professor Ozpin:** Good evening Kestrel, shall we begin?

**Kestrel:** Aye, but I still don't understand why you called me back here after what happened out there...

**Professor Ozpin:** Yes well, we need a full recount of what happened. So Kestrel, what was your mission?

Kestrel: Hmm, oh yeah sorry. [Pauses and sighs deeply] Well we had one support gunship and four teams of Hunters and Huntresses, good people one and all. Anyway we heard rumours of a sizable group of Grimm gathering up north in the Snowy Forests. So we got selected to neutralize and clean it up, only when we got there and landed There was no signs of Grimm, nothing. Well, at first...

**Professor Ozpin:** Yes, your report mentioned the teams involved supposedly reported seeing a "Phantom-like" figure in the shadows of the forest? It didn't look like a Grimm, correct?

**Kestrel:** Actually I didn't see it at first, it was some of the members from the other teams did a thorough sweep of the area. They kept mentioning seeing shapes deep in the forest, in the corner of their eyes for one second then vanish when they tried to get a good look at it. [Pauses for a moment] But something about that forest just felt, _wrong_. It felt like something was out there, watching our every move waiting. Then after a good hour or two of searching, _it_ happened...

**Professor Ozpin:** Two of the four teams that was farthest from the your team and the other team failed to report in within 10 minute intervals between each other. There was no distress call, no call for backup or anything?

**Kestrel:** Nope, nothing. At first we thought they were having a radio or communications failure. We and the other team decided to investigate the missing teams last known whereabouts, but by the time we got there we found nothing. No signs of battle, no traces of dust usage or even damn blood stains or anything. It's like the world just up and swallowed them whole, poor bastards...

**Professor Ozpin:** No traces of dust usage, blood stains or even bodies? Interesting, records say the Grimm were mostly methodical with their attacks but this is something else entirely. What happened next?

**Kestrel:** Well we tried to find them, we couldn't allow our own left alone out there. Not in place like that. During our search I spotted something, a body. Some poor Huntress from one of the missing teams, impaled to a tree by her own weapon...

**Professor Ozpin:** Yes, the Huntress was a... [Paper is heard being moved and shuffled] Adelie Athena?

**Kestrel:** Yeah, she almost finished Academy training before that mission, didn't know her personally but her equipment matched the pre-mission dossier. We pulled the weapon away and sat her by the ground... One of the other guys from the other team tried to check for a pulse for a faint hope she could still be alive but she was already gone. We carried her body with us and continued searching for the others, next thing we knew people were vanishing one by one.

**Professor Ozpin:** And you still didn't see what was causing all this?

**Kestrel:** Are you kidding me? It was like the goddamn trees were hunting us! Whatever was picking us off must've been fast, _crazy_ fast. The casualties didn't even have time to make any noise before they were gone. I mean you look at them for a moment, turn around and back for one second and poof, they're gone. Hell within ten minutes the second team was non responsive, vanished like sorcery. Just my team left alone with whatever was in that damned place... We continued seeing humanoid-looking shapes move in the distance, too fast to get a fix on or even locate, it or they, were watching us and we had no idea...

**Professor Ozpin:** I see, your report also said that you called the gunship for extraction. But along the way you got ambushed, correct? So did you finally get a good look of your elusive assailant? Can you describe it?

**Kestrel:** [Pauses for a long moment] N-No, that's the thing. We could see absolutely nothing. It was moving at such speed that it was like you blink and you die... Gideon was first, we were close to the Landing Zone. He was fine one minute then we heard a wet swiping sound behind us, we turned and saw him just standing there, like he was frozen solid. Then his neck started bleeding, nobody saw what did it but soon his head fell off, then his body dropped like a rock... Then Nicolas got impaled from behind, clear through the spine and through his chest blood and bone blinded me and Ivana. When we finally saw what happened, the assailant just vanished. Vanished! Like it was a goddamn vengeful ghost or something! Ivana panicked, ran up ahead, she didn't get far. she stopped dead in her tracks and her chest just exploded wide open. Blood was everywhere, she was screaming bloody murder. She died in such pain, I just felt like putting her out of his misery but I couldn't. My friends were dying all around me, I couldn't move, I couldn't do anything to be helpful. I watched them all die, I was responsible for their safety, and I failed. I- I failed them... What kind of leader let's his own people down like this and yet does everything right? I mean I survived and returned where they died out there rotting away, I should've died with them...

**Professor Ozpin:** Calm down, I assure you Kestrel, their deaths were not in vain and they carried out their duty to Humanity like any Hunter or Huntress would to the best of their abilities. How can I know this? You're here relying this to me, this information is critical for Beacon and the people we swear to protect. Unless there's anything else you'd like to report you may go.

**Kestrel:** No. But it still doesn't change anything, my friends aren't coming back...

[A chair is heard moving, and footsteps leave the room. Kestrel Blackburn has confirmed to have left the Interrogation Room.]

**Professor Ozpin:** Let this be on record, so far this is the fourth attempt that has failed. Chernarus Akula has eluded Beacon's attempts to recruit him. His abilities and combat effectiveness will be a vital asset against the creatures of Grimm and peacekeeping operations. Efforts to "recruit" him into Beacon will continue until he has been added to the active roster.

**END LOG**


End file.
